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ASU Best Teams: No. 1 1965 Baseball vs. No. 12 2005 Baseball

Different decades of diamonds

Photos from Sun Devil Athletics

We continue our best teams from ASU ever this summer with our next matchup. No. 2 1969 Baseball beat No. 3 1990 Men’s Golf in our last matchup. Now it’s No. 1 1965 Baseball vs. No. 12 2005 Baseball.

Here’s the current bracket:

No. 1 1965 Baseball

Record: 54-8 (9-3 Western Athletic Conference) College World Series champion

Head coach: Bobby Winkles

Notable players: Rick Monday, Sal Bando

The rundown: First-Team All-American and the 1965 MLB No. 1 overall pick, outfielder Rick Monday homered twice in Omaha as he led Arizona State baseball to its first national championship. The Sun Devils had a dominant 11-1 record in the postseason, which concluded when ASU dealt Ohio State a 2-1 defeat to clinch ASU’s first of five eventual College World Series titles.

No. 12 2005 Baseball

Record: 43-25, 3rd at CWS

Head coach: Pat Murphy

Notable players: Jeff Larish, Joey Hooft, Travis Buck, Colin Curtis

The rundown: Led by Travis Buck’s .382 average and Jeff Larish’s 23 home runs, the Sun Devils hosted a Regional in 2005 to defeat East Carolina and Coastal Carolina before defeating the defending-national champions Cal State Fullerton at Super Regionals. In Omaha, the team fell to Nebraska in the first round, then took down Tennessee and came back against Nebraska, only to fall in the semifinals against Florida. ASU finished with the second-most players on the CWS All-Tournament team (four) second only to the national champion Texas’ six.

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